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Saigon is by far the most interesting cities i have visited compared to Manila and Jakarta. The previous two trips have been nice too, but i did not really enjoy the food and scenery there (not that there are much to speak about).  But Saigon is different, the food is authentically nice (oh yes, even the food court there tastes 100% nicer than mdm saigon here..).  Know what, I have not eaten vietnamese food for years, ever since the mdm saigon experience in SIN.  BUT i simply love the food in VN now, its authentically fresh and nice.  One thing must try is the beef noodle soup, one shop to recommend is PHO24, can be found in food court at diamond plaza too.. it beats everything.

In a nutshell, the city is in the south of vietnam, overcrowded, motorbikes more than cars (just like in BJS you can see bicycles more than anything else), and they go zig zags.. you have to be careful when crossing the roads, the motorists will just whiz pass you even when its showing 'green man'.  The trick to doing so is to 'close your eyes and mind' and just cross the road, the motorist will go zig zag around you and avoid hitting into pedestrians.  If you were to 'wait till coast is clear' you can never expect to cross any road there.  

If you wanna some quick and cheap shopping, try the 'russian market' now renamed as 'Saigon SQ' , Ben Thanh Market, these two markets are the best well known among tourists, sells 90% fake goods, food stuffs etc, just like chaptuchak in BKK where you can get real good bargains.. if you bargain hard enough though. Diamond plaza is their landmark in saigon, where they sell branded stuffs and a decent shopping mall, but singaporeans may get disappointed when they get in there though, the size is relatively small and merchandise is not that much, hmm more like our smaller scale BHG in bugis lor...

its good to take a walk around the places in district one, like Hai Ba Trung st, Dong Khoi st..well the shops in saigon is quite saturated, you have to have the patience to walk around, some shops are really interesting, but are scattered at all corners and along all streets, you may experience visitng a shop and then walk on with no shops and then another shop appears again.. well the good thing is that the city itself is small enough to walk around.. you won't get lost with a good map in hand, unless you wanna travel outskirts to places of interest..

Take a look at cityhall with statue of ho chi minh just right in front, the post office, saigon cathedral (just beside the post office) museum of war and reunification palace if you have the time.. but do take a good look at the buildings around you, there is a mixture of old, french, modern buildings around..which makes this city extra interesting with a tinge of mystery..